Originally Posted by
saab2000
If there are furloughs, and I’m pretty skeptical, they have to recall everyone from ExTO. Then furlough according to the contract. That’s a big cost right there because in less than 10 days every who took ExTO is de-qualified and needs to hit the sim for 3 takeoffs and landings. Some who will be furloughed will not have to re-qualify but many would have to head to Dallas, at company expense.
I hope I’m not wrong. But I don’t think it will come to furloughs. As mentioned earlier in this and other threads, there are many reasons to avoid it. Additionally there is a non-trivial amount of natural attrition each month due to retirements.
That said, I think we’re in for a tough winter.
I’ve been out for 3 months. How are loads? I’ll be curious about load factors after December 1 when they are selling to full capacity again.
The last time I was at an airline that furloughed, around 2008, everyone was back sooner than expected and not long after that they couldn’t fill classes fast enough.
Last week we were in the upper 80's, low 90's for loads on my last trip. Work a 3 day before the holiday and right now showing upper 60's/low 70's.